A comparative study on parental language used by parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and typically developing children

Abstract

Purpose: Current study is designed to analyze the quantity and quality of parental language during parent-child interaction in the natural environment in both typically developing and in children with autism spectrum disorder. Methods: A total of 10 primary caregivers mainly parents in which 5 participants were parents of children with autism spectrum disorder and 5 participants were parents of typically developing children. A 10-15 minutes video recording of parent-child interaction was analyzed and drawn into conclusion about the quantity and quality of language used in terms of grammatical language measures, discourse function and pragmatic function. Results: Parents of children with ASD and parents of TD children who were developing normally produced similar amounts of linguistic input, but they differed on certain quality parameters. Parents of TD children use more Mean Length of Utterance. Significant differences were found between the two groups in terms of Discourse function and pragmatic functions. The parents of children with ASD used a comparatively lower number of nouns, verbs, conjunctions and case markers. In Discourse function analysis, significant differences were found in parental responses, number of conversational turns and number of parental responses to child’s initiations. While considering pragmatic/behavioral functions, significant differences were only in questions and expansions. Conclusions: The current study emphasizes the importance of parental language during parent-child interactions, as well as the need to profile the same which would provide precise information on the level of stimulation delivered.